October 11, 2014
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October 11, 2014 in the southeast corner of Montana
I have avoided writing here way too long. No wonder I was feeling depressed. I haven't spoken to my friends in ages. Well, here I am in Montana. Am living and working in Indian territory. Actually, I work for St. Labre Indian School (www.stlabre.org). We have approximately 760 students that we educate at one of our three campuses. Main campus is in Ashland (next to the Northern Cheyenne reservation and two smaller campuses on the Crow reservation. Been here since 2010. Love it. This is big sky country. The first year we arrived it snowed from Nov 17th through the end of March. Then we had our first experience with floods in the Spring. Lots of Rain. Mosquitos by the thousands arrived in early summer. (We live next to the Tongue River) They were quickly followed by more grasshoppers than I have ever seen in a lifetime. Let me tell you that every thing that was green and growing was eaten. The next winter was mild and dry. No rain in the spring. We had wildfires surrounded the school and the town. It burned to within 300 feet of my back door. Couldn't get out of town because the fire was so hot it melted the road going east and west. Last year we had an early snow melt on the creek which took out our bridge and in 24 hours totally filled all the area within my vision range. People were canoeing down the slough but right in front of our house the had to get out and carry the canoe over the high ground (about 3 feet) and then could get back in the canoe. My neighbor across the road put a sign at the end of his driveway that said "no fishing" Someday I will tell you the story of replacing the bridge. (a lot of common sense ingenuity here). This past winter we were just cold. Below zero most of the winter. You know that once you get below zero it is just cold.
Well, I hope to hear from some of my old friends. Love you all. I promise I am back. My heart feels light and free again. Namaste
